How heavy is the Beanpot? Most Harvard men have no idea. “I’d like for some of our guys to be able to answer that question,’’ says Crimson coach Ted Donato, who hoisted the silver souvenir as a sophomore when the 1989 national champion squad won the tournament for the first time in eight years.

Boston University’s hockey team, which has won 30 of the previous 64 titles, knows the trophy’s weight to the ounce but isn’t telling its rivals from across the Rivah. Donato’s players, who include his sophomore son Ryan, will have to find that out for themselves.

The Crimson haven’t won the title since 1993, a nearly unimaginable drought for a program that since has won five ECAC titles and played in the NCAA Tournament nine times. “It would be awesome for the program, for our fans, and our alumni,’’ says cocaptain Devin Tringale, a Medford native whose teammates take on BU in Monday night’s championship game. “It’s a huge deal in Boston to win the Beanpot. You solidify yourself as one of the best teams in the nation.’’

Just reaching the final was a rare achievement for the Crimson, who’d managed it only thrice (1994, 1998, 2008) since they last won the title. Seven times they’d lost their opener by a goal, three times in overtime and two of those in two extra sessions.

“Our guys are very well aware of our lack of recent success,’’ observes Donato. “We have a senior group that’s accomplished a lot, gone to the NCAA Tournament the last couple of years, won the ECAC championship. This is a box they haven’t checked and I think they’re determined to play well here.’’

The class of 2017 has played well against BU and could/should have won their last three meetings. Harvard was up two goals on the Terriers before the midpoint of their 2015 first-round encounter and lost in double overtime. The Crimson were up by two goals with four minutes to play in last season’s game at Bright-Landry Center and lost in regulation.

This season at Agganis Arena, Harvard led twice before falling to BU, 5-3. “We need to finish the job,’’ acknowledges Tringale. “We’ve been up on them a couple of times in the past few seasons and not been able to finish the job.’’

When the Crimson convened last fall for the current campaign, completion was Job 1. “That was a question mark surrounding our team coming into this year,’’ says cocaptain Alexander Kerfoot. “We’ve had success but we haven’t had success in the big games. That comes with experience but it also comes with being mentally ready and having the confidence knowing that you can win those games. That’s one thing that we wanted to change. We’ve done a good job so far but we still have a lot to prove.’’

This Harvard group has had notable success this season in winning statement games. Its 5-2 victory over then-third-ranked Boston College was its first at home over the Eagles in a decade. Its up-country sweep of St. Lawrence (4-2) and Clarkson (7-3) was its first in 14 years. Its 5-2 triumph over defending ECAC champion Quinnipiac was only its third in their last 10 games. And its 4-1 victory at Cornell halted the Big Red’s five-game unbeaten streak.

“The ghosts of the 1967 team were all in town,’’ says Donato. “They were honoring their national championship team. Ken Dryden was in the house, so it was nice to get out of there with 2 points.’’

Not that the Crimson haven’t tripped over their own skates upon occasion. They were gonged, 4-0, at Rensselaer after having beaten the Engineers, 5-1, two weekends earlier. That was the beginning of a three-game dip that ended with an 8-4 loss at Dartmouth in which Harvard led, 2-0, after 16 minutes. “It was important for us to have bumps in the road in the middle of the season, learn from those mistakes, and move forward,’’ says Tringale.

The Crimson, who’d won six in a row before those bumps, are unbeaten in their last seven after Friday’s 6-2 home thumping of Union. The biggest one was the 4-3 triumph over Northeastern in the Beanpot opener. The Huskies had won seven of their previous 10 Garden encounters, including a 6-0 thwacking in their previous first-round matchup.

So after eight years of lacing up in daylight for consolation games in front of what former coach Bill Cleary used to call “friends and family,’’ Harvard finally gets to play in the marquee attraction. “From now until the end of the season is trophy season,’’ says Kerfoot. “We want to win the Ivy League. We want to win the ECACs. We want to win the Beanpot.’’

Time was when the Crimson didn’t have to wait that long between coronations. Between 1960 and 1981 they won the tournament a half-dozen times, besting BU in five of them. Since then they’ve managed it only twice. In 1989 after squandering a 3-0 lead Harvard had to scramble to prevail, 9-6, over the Terriers. “I know the game was crazy,’’ recalls Donato, who scored the winning goal.

The last time, which occurred when Bill Clinton still was finding his way around the White House, Harvard had to come from behind with a freshman goalie. That was the last Crimson varsity that got to pass around the city’s two-handled hockey treasure. This one can only imagine its heft. “Trust me,’’ says Donato, “it’ll be the lightest thing they’ll handle that night.’’

John Powers can be reached at john.powers@globe.com.